Gaming News Round-Up: September 14th, 2004

The round-up for today includes information on a little gaming gin and juice for Spike TV, Bruno Bonnell's acquisition regrets, the end of the beginning of the wait for PlayStation 3, and the 'enhanced trilogy' for the Quake series. - U.S. cable channel Spike TV has announced that hiphop star Snoop Dogg will present this year's Spike TV Video Game Awards, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, December 14th from 9:00-11:00pm, ET. The channel points out Snoop's upcoming appearance in EA's Def Jam: Fight For NY, and additional game credits including Activision's True Crime: Streets of LA, certainly a more impressive gaming resume than last year's host, David Spade. - In an interview with consumer site 1UP.com, Atari boss Bruno Bonnell discussed his company's acquisition-filled history, starting with Infogrames' founding in 1983 and following a buying spree that has included GT Interactive, Hasbro Interactive/Atari, and many other small and large entities. When quizzed, he argues: 'If a studio isn't performing up to standards, you can always change your mind, change the management, etc. Failing that, you can also incorporate people into other parts of your organization', before allowing pride at the integration of GT Interactive into the Infogrames empire, but admitting: 'I may have been too hasty in the past in acquiring minor studios like Accolade and Gremlin.' - According to reports appearing in the Japanese newspaper Nikkei Journal, development on Sony, IBM, and Toshiba's CELL processor is finally nearing completion, confirms Toshiba president Tadashi Okamura. The chip is still scheduled to start full production later in 2005, and Okamura specifically mentioned the next-generation PlayStation as one of the most important applications of the CELL. However, the PlayStation 3's final release date is still, obviously, unconfirmed. - Thanks to a cover story in this month's PC Gamer magazine, details have begun to emerge about the Raven Software-developed Quake 4, long in development for PC, and making use of id's Doom 3 engine. According to the preview, which includes some impressive screenshots, the game is a direct sequel to Quake II in terms of timeline/plot. Other previously unconfirmed features include vehicles that can be used in single-player gameplay throughout the game, though not in multiplayer, which intends to replicate and enhance Quake 3: Arena's playability without resorting to vehicular shenanigans.